


The Unforgettable Fire

by echoicdreamscape



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Rise of Kyoshi, The Shadow of Kyoshi
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29188470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echoicdreamscape/pseuds/echoicdreamscape
Summary: Earth, Kyoshi thinks, is cold, dark, and unforgiving. For so many years she considered earthbending just another burden her parents left to deal with on her own. Fire, on the other hand, represents destruction, but also renewal and life.And love.
Relationships: Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 69





	The Unforgettable Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Sections are not in chronological order.

Earth, Kyoshi thinks, is cold, dark, and unforgiving. For so many years she considered earthbending just another burden her parents left to deal with on her own. Fire, on the other hand, represents destruction, but also renewal and life. _And love_ , she adds as she watches Rangi meditate amidst the rising sun.

* * *

Rangi is grumpy today. She probably wouldn’t admit it to anyone while on bodyguard duty, but Kyoshi notices how scowls appear more readily on her face and can practically hear her patience boiling away while they listen to Chief Nukilik describe the ocean beast that threatens Agna Qel’a. 

“So, Avatar Kyoshi, we must beg for your help to rid us of this beast.” Chief Nukilik bows deeply. 

“You call upon the _Avatar_ for a simple pest problem?” Rangi almost sneers. “There are plenty of beast hunters who can take care of this problem for you while the Avatar handles more important business.” With that, she crosses her arms and glares at the wall behind the Chief.

Kyoshi sighs. “You’ll have to forgive my bodyguard for the interruption. We’re tired from our long trip and-“

“KYOSHI!” Another figure bursts into the Royal Palace’s war room. “You _have_ to try this blubbered seal jerky!” Kirima runs up to her with Jinpa following closely, apologies in his eyes. The waterbender holds out a slice as she completely ignores Nukilik’s presence. The Avatar pinches the bridge of her nose (a habit picked up from Rangi) and sighs again. It’s going to be a long, insufferable day. You’d think that six months after the battle in Yokoya they’d work together more seamlessly at this point. 

The sounds of a roaring banquet fade out as Kyoshi approaches her quarters with Rangi following silently behind her. She’s surprised that her partner isn’t stomping away, a continuation of the foul mood she’s been in all day. She notices her ears ringing slightly, a product of the Northern Water Tribe hunters’ screams of triumph after she had slain the beast and the cheers she had endured during the banquet before she excused herself early. She knows that they will dine so well that they won’t approach her again tonight.

The two remove their armor, still not speaking, as soon as they enter the room. Once Kyoshi has finished rubbing the white makeup off her face, she crosses her arms and watches Rangi stack her armor neatly into a corner of the room, although it clangs a bit louder than usual.

“So, are you finally going to tell me what’s wrong?” Kyoshi asks tightly. She never thought Rangi would be one to behave so insolently, especially after she had spent two years as a guest in the Northern Water Tribe's northernmost city.

No one can hope to match Rangi’s glares (except her mother), and now is no exception. The two enter a staredown that Kyoshi has never won before. She decides on a different tactic after knowing she’s losing in just three seconds.

“It’s an insult to my authority as the Avatar when you speak out of turn,” she begins. Rangi’s eyes narrow. “And it’s an insult to your honor when you behave like a spoiled child in front of the other nations.”

If it were possible, Kyoshi thinks, steam would be fuming out of Rangi’s ears right now. Instead, the firebender clenches her fists…and with a whirl, punches the wall of ice behind her. Rangi yanks her fist out with a slight struggle, sections of skin ripping off as they stick to the ice. 

“RANGI!” Kyoshi scrambles to repair the hole before it creates devastating cracks in the room. She pushes Rangi out of the way as she uses their drinking water from a nearby jug to fill the hole. Once she’s satisfied that their room will remain structurally intact, she turns to her partner.

“ _What was that abo-_ ” Kyoshi’s eyes widen as she notices the blood flowing down Rangi’s hand, dripping onto the icy floor. Rangi’s face betrays no pain. In fact, there isn’t much expression at all.

“Come here,” Kyoshi orders as she moves to sit on the edge of the bed. Rangi joins her, sitting two feet away. Kyoshi won’t allow any more permanent damage on Rangi’s body, not if she can help it. She uses the last of the water from the jug to heal Rangi’s hand. They both watch the shimmering water swirl around the firebender’s knuckles and fingers. Heavy, silent minutes pass before Rangi finally speaks.

“Did you notice?” she mutters.

“What?” Kyoshi replies, irritated.

“I didn’t firebend at all today. Not even just now. I…couldn’t.” Rangi looks down.

Kyoshi feels a rising panic. What happened? How did she miss it? How can she fix it? How-

Rangi places her unhurt hand on Kyoshi’s knee. “We’re in a freezing wasteland and tonight is the full moon.” She notices that her skin has grown back and examines Kyoshi’s healing job, nodding at her partner’s adequate performance. Kyoshi flings the rest of the water into a random corner.

“…I’m useless…” Rangi mumbles. She rests her elbows on her knees and hides her face in her hands.

“Rangi…” Kyoshi is at a loss for words. Even without her firebending, she is an elite soldier who makes her enemies tremble in fear. Rangi is the bravest, fiercest person she knows.

“I don’t need you to protect me all the time. You know I can take care of myself in a fight,” Kyoshi tries to soothe.

Rangi sighs and runs her hand through her hair. She removes her hairpin and the tie holding up her topknot and sets them carefully aside on the nightstand. She shakes her head a couple of times, allowing her hair to settle and frame her face. “I know. I just want to be there whenever you need me. Not being able to firebend feels like I’ve lost a part of myself.”

Kyoshi takes her hand, holding back her desire to run her hands through Rangi’s hair. “No one noticed today. In fact, I think those hunters were intimidated by you after they saw you put that monster into a chokehold.” A hint of a smile appears on Rangi’s face. 

She climbs into bed, leaving Rangi still seated at the edge. “Besides, I can think of another way for you to be useful to me.” The firebender looks confused as she also nestles under the sheets.

Kyoshi pulls Rangi in close to her chest, one hand nestling into her silky hair. She feels her partner’s body relax into her embrace. “You can keep me warm tonight. Who makes a bedroom made of ice?!”

* * *

Kyoshi has been to the Fire Nation numerous times and has never failed to survived intact. She has presided over banquets, visited restaurants, and bought from night markets. Every single time she’s been able to handle it, but she doesn’t know that’s about to change. This time, they are visiting Rangi’s home island together for the first time. This time, she vows, will be the first that she does not make an absolute fool of herself in the Fire Nation.

She should have known when she had arrived at the table and her eyes had almost immediately teared up. She should have known when most of the dishes were a startling bright red with whole chili peppers swimming in liquid. Even the vegetable dishes were spiked with red flakes. Or maybe she should have known after seeing Rangi’s greedy look as she appraised the home cooking she had been missing for months.

But now the Avatar, master of all four elements, the bridge between the Spirit World and the physical one, is gulping milk as if she has been crawling in the Si Wong Desert for the past week. Even worse than putting on this desperate show is knowing that her love and her love’s mother are both watching her struggle.

“H-how come this has never happened before?” she manages to choke out.

Hei-Ran sets her chopsticks down on top of her bowl. “It’s traditional to help non-Fire Nation Avatars save face by serving them mild food. But since you are in our home, our cook did not think to lessen the spice.” She looks almost apologetic. Meanwhile, Rangi shoves down her second bowl with near tearful joy as tears of another sort threaten to fall from Kyoshi’s face and she suppresses the urge to jump around, the heat hurts so badly.

So this is how she’s defeated, not by a powerful outlaw, not by a menacing beast, but by a Sei’naka dinner.

Her partner finally puts her bowl down for longer than the few seconds it takes to refill it. After glancing at Kyoshi for half a second, she abruptly stands and looks over her shoulder as she departs the room. “I’ll ask the cook to make some mild food for you, Kyoshi. You won’t get away with not eating on my watch!”

Hei-Ran sports a fond look before picking up her chopsticks again. 

Later that evening, Rangi shows Kyoshi around the courtyard. The scent of flowers fills the air as it mixes with the calm of the evening. “I used to come and feed the turtle-ducks every morning before training,” she says as she leads Kyoshi past the pond to the East wall, their hands clasped.

“And here’s where I made my first fire fist.” She uses her free hand to trace the dark mark. “Mother forbade anyone to wash this off the wall.” 

Kyoshi leans down to examine the wall. “This is really low. How old were you?”

Rangi barks out a laugh. “Everything is really low to you, you oaf.” She unlinks their hands. Kyoshi feels a sense of loss at the sudden change in temperature and the disconnection from her partner. But Rangi relocates it to an even better place around her waist. Kyoshi does the same, pulling them side by side.

“I was four…” she continues staring at the wall and Kyoshi knows from her tone that she should continue looking at it, too. “My father had just passed two days before…and I didn’t know how to handle my emotions.” 

Kyoshi presses a kiss to the top of her head, trusting that the nighttime will conceal her private gesture. Rangi looks at the wall for a few more long seconds before taking Kyoshi once more by the hand and leading them to the largest tree in the courtyard.

“I used to climb this tree before I could firebend. I called it training.” She lets out a short chortle. “Now I bet I could climb it in ten seconds.” She looks up. “It looks so much smaller now,” she adds as an afterthought.

Kyoshi stares up at the branches that tower over her. She imagines a little four-year-old Rangi scrambling up the tree, trying to prove her worth to no one but herself. She wonders how many scrapes, bruises, and falls she endured before she finally made it to the top.

“Thank you for bringing me to your home,” she almost whispers.

The familiar warmth that draws nearer brings Kyoshi’s attention back down. 

“I’ve always wanted to take you here,” Rangi whispers back. “This is your home, now, too.” She cups her hands behind Kyoshi’s neck and draws her down until their lips meet.

Kyoshi will never get tired of the sparks that dance behind her eyes, the warmth that travels throughout her body when they kiss. She places her hands on Rangi’s waist to draw her closer. But there’s another sensation, a new one-.

Kyoshi draws back quickly, bringing a curious hand to trace her tingling lips.

“What’s wrong?” Rangi asks, impatient at being interrupted at making Kyoshi’s knees turn to jelly. 

“Your food is really spicy!” Kyoshi exclaims. “I can feel it from your mouth!” 

Rangi looks taken aback. “Should we stop?”

Kyoshi retakes her hips, bringing her right thumb to trace the sharp jut of her hipbone. She leans in again. 

“I kind of like it, actually.”

* * *

She doesn’t know how it started, but Kyoshi finds herself in a drink-off with her team-well, just Rangi and Kirima. Hei-Ran and Atuat had shook their heads at the younger ones’ mischief and disappeared elsewhere. Jinpa refused to drink alcohol. Wong was who knows where. They sit at a low table, pots of sake between them. The three take turns appraising each other, each daring the others to give in.

Kyoshi knows her cheeks are flushed at four drinks and Kirima is faring no better than her. Rangi looks as if she’s been drinking water instead of alcohol, no trace of impairment anywhere on her face or in her body movements. In fact, if Kyoshi didn’t know better, she’d say her wife is concealing a smirk.

“Another!” Kirima slams her empty cup on the table and moves to pour more out for the trio. They all slam back the alcohol, each grimacing to a different degree. Kyoshi feels the effects almost immediately as her head becomes dizzy and she starts seeing double. 

“Ready to give in?” The waterbender across her slurs out, swaying on the spot. 

“Never,” Kyoshi grumbles, unable to focus her eyes on Kirima. “What about you?” She looks at Rangi. “What’s going on with you?”

Rangi leans back on her elbows and lays her socked feet in Kyoshi’s lap. “I’m just enjoying watching you two make a decision you’ll regret tomorrow morning…or maybe even tonight, since Kirima looks like she just swallowed something that came up.”

“I’m just not as tall as you! You have a biological advantage!” Kirima shouts as she sprints away to the bathroom.

“I win!” Kyoshi fist pumps, the motion making her lose her balance and fall backwards. Her head thunks onto the wooden floor. 

Rangi tuts and removes her feet from her lap. She walks over to her wife, standing above her. “I think _I_ win.”

Kyoshi pouts. “Why aren’t you even drunk?” she whines. “You’re cheating!”

The firebender leans down and pulls her to a sitting position with ease. _Mmm, Rangi’s muscles,_ Kyoshi thinks to herself. _Niiiiice muscles. Stroooooong muscles._

Rangi flicks her forehead. “Ouch!”

“My inner fire burns away the alcohol, stupid. I don’t get drunk.” And with that, Rangi rolls her eyes and throws Kyoshi’s long body over her shoulder before her wife even realizes it.

“Now it’s off to bed for us. You’re going to drink a gallon of water before you go to sleep,” she orders.

Kyoshi nods sleepily. “Muscles,” she murmurs.

“What?”

* * *

Kyoshi’s heart pounds so hard in her chest as she sails on _Sulan’s Smile_ back to the Fire Nation capital she thinks it may burst through her ribs and fall into the ocean. It’s what she deserves, really, for leaving Rangi behind. Although she had previously waterbent her soaked clothes and hair dry, she finds herself dripping with sweat, which has nothing to do with the heat as they get closer to the dormant volcano. 

She leans over the rail to watch the water below her, the water she had almost drowned in. As usual when she has time to think, Kyoshi begins to panic, her thoughts escaping from her. How will Rangi react when she sees her again? Will she ever see her again? Maybe what everyone said to her face was right. Maybe she doesn’t know how to read people. Maybe she doesn’t know Rangi at all. Sweet, loyal Rangi, who has stuck to her side ever since she was a servant. Maybe she will be left behind, as she always has. Starting with her parents, then Yun, then Kelsang-.

Maybe she really doesn’t deserve love, happiness, peace, because there’s something so immeasurably wrong with her at her core that she’ll never be redeemable. It’s what makes her unable to keep her promises to keep others safe, it’s what makes her betray the one she loves, it’s what makes her mess up over and over and over again. Maybe Kyoshi’s better off alone so she won’t hurt anyone again. And Rangi’s upcoming breakup with her will just be more proof. Kyoshi takes wobbling steps down the pier and doesn’t notice anything around her as she walks to the guest house by the Royal Palace where the Sei’nakas and Sifu Atuat have been staying. She numbly makes a mental note to ask Sifu Atuat to teach her some more advanced healing techniques.

Kyoshi enters the bedroom where she knows spare robes will be for her to change into. She barely pays attention as she disrobes her sweat-drenched clothes with shaking hands and pulls on a more casual garb. It takes her three tries put on cloth gloves with her fumbling hands. She doesn’t hear the door slide open behind her nor the five degree increase in temperature until she hears a voice.

“Thought you could get away with that, huh?” Rangi’s voice is clipped but wavers at the end.

Kyoshi freezes. She hears the firebender walk toward her. She can’t face her, not yet. Not ever. She’s not ready for it to end. She doesn’t know what she’ll do without her anchor. Maybe drift away and lose all semblance of what she’s become. Maybe become a vessel of hate and revenge again. Maybe fade away into nothing at all. 

“Turn around and face me, coward,” Rangi orders.

Wincing, Kyoshi turns on the spot. She hangs her head and stares at her feet. Tears threaten to escape, but she won’t allow them to fall. This isn’t about her.

Rangi pokes her in the chest with her right hand, her finger scorching a hole into Kyoshi’s clean robes. With her left, she grabs at Kyoshi’s chin so they meet eye to eye. Kyoshi hunches over but doesn’t complain.

“If you ever do _anything_ like that again, I swear I’ll-I’ll-“ Rangi is surprisingly the first to cry, tears streaming down her beautiful face. She turns away to look at a painting on the wall, but she can’t hide her short, choking sobs.

Kyoshi feels her heart nearly break in two for the other girl. “Rangi, I’m so sorry-“ She breaks off her apology when she notices the firebender’s entire body tremble. She knows there's nothing she can say or do to make it up to her. She can't forgive herself for inflicting such harm on the one she loves the most, on the one who has always been by her side. But Rangi isn't shouting at her to leave. Rangi isn't shoving her away, never to see each other again. And Kyoshi realizes...

“You aren’t leaving me?” She manages to whisper.

Her partner spins around, furious. She stomps over and burns a second hole into Kyoshi’s clothes. “Stupid! I’ll never leave you! Didn’t we promise each other? How many times do I have to prove it to you, Kyoshi?” Her fire seems to leave as quickly as it started. Rangi’s face drops from furious to despondent. 

Rangi grabs Kyoshi’s gloved hands and sinks to the ground, pulling Kyoshi down with her. They almost fall into a heap but neither cares. “Mother told me you were trying to protect me. But you don’t understand. It’s _my_ job to protect _you_.”

A silence falls. 

They both wipe their faces before joining hands again. “I haven’t been holding true to my promises,” Kyoshi laments. “You can’t trust a word I say.”

Rangi nods solemnly. “That’s why I’m here, to keep you accountable.” She grips Kyoshi’s hands lightly in her own.

“Why?” Kyoshi can’t say anything else. _Why do you stay with me? Why do you keep forgiving me? Why do you keep choosing me when you could have anything? Anyone?_

Rangi methodically begins pulling off Kyoshi’s gloves. “Wha-?” The taller girl shuts her mouth to watch Rangi slip off the right one first, caressing her bare hand before moving on to its pair. She holds Kyoshi’s hands gently in her own, thumbs tracing the lines of scars that lead up to Kyoshi’s forearms. Kyoshi suppresses a shiver.

“You’ve always had such beautiful hands,” Rangi murmurs. She brings Kyoshi’s left hand to her lips and places gentle, careful kisses here and there on her skin. She raises her head looks Kyoshi in the eye. “I’m devoted to you, Kyoshi. Nothing will ever change that.” 

Kyoshi’s heart swells and she almost tears up again as she guides her hands to hold Rangi’s face. Rangi’s gorgeous face with her smiles that are just for her, her pointed chin, those high cheekbones that can’t hide a flush, her little nose that’s smaller than Kyoshi’s own, her bronze eyes that gleam at times and burn at others, all of her. Kyoshi can’t believe she’s gotten so lucky to have the love of someone so beautiful, so loyal, so just, so _honorable_.

She leans down and joins their foreheads together, closing her eyes and saying those words she had always been too terrified to say to anyone before. “I love you, Rangi.”

The firebender huffs out a laugh. “Fool, I love you, too.”

* * *

Rangi snores softly as she lays on her side in their bed. Kyoshi suppresses a silent chuckle imagining the look on her wife’s face if she were told that she snores in her sleep. The moonlight washes past Kyoshi's shoulder over to the firebender’s back, illuminating the lines of muscles that Kyoshi has probably spent hours admiring at this point. She has to control herself to not trace Rangi’s shoulder blades, her spine, and further down under the blanket to the adorable dimples on her lower back. Kyoshi forces her eyes back up and they linger on the scar in the center of the shorter woman’s back. It’s since faded into a white mark, an indelible memory of when Yun had betrayed his friends. She’s glad that the scar is located where Rangi can’t see it every day. She knows that if it were visible, Rangi would look forlornly at it whenever she got the chance, grieving what was and what could have been. 

Rangi shifts with a mumble. “Again?” she says sleepily.

Kyoshi withdraws the finger she didn’t realize had been stroking the scar and instead wraps her arm around Rangi’s stomach, drawing her close. She nuzzles into the crook between the bottom of Rangi’s ear and her neck, enjoying the flowery scent of Rangi’s hair that pleasantly fills her senses. “Maybe in the morning.” Rangi gives a half-asleep noise of affirmation before returning to her snores.

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I'm falling into old habits and naming fics after songs again...


End file.
